2015 Europeans Men's Free Skate, Jan. 30

[silverfoxes]

Fair enough, but his PCS was quite low... Sub-80... So it's not like politicking heavily came into play here. Of anything Fernandez' marks were inflated in both segments.

Right, his PCS at this competition were reasonable...I meant in the past. Hopefully the tide is turning.

 

[salchowx4]

Maybe he pushed the wrong button and it was suppose to be an 8 not a 9 (let's hope).

The same judge gave him 9.5 for TR and 9.75 for PE, CH, and IN. It was no mistake (unfortunately).

 

[Alba]

My point was, instead of lauding strong skates to point out why skaters did win, so many people are often quick to say they "only won" because the favourites made mistakes. It would be like saying Medvedeva won Russian bronze only because Pogo and Lip were off their game. Kovtun has earned his victories, including his silver here ... Yeah he was sloppy but he did a lot of things right too and Voronov made costly errors himself.

People were going so far as to say Kovtun should have been behind Bychenko (LMAO)... It's painfully obvious how manic and desperate people are to have Kovtun finish off the podium... what, so they can sneer that "even Bychenko beat him". Pathetic.

I agree with you here. I don't like him, I wanted Voronov to win the silver. But Kovtun deserved the second place, whether I like it or not which is totally irrelevant. It's called suck it up Alba, in english, right?

 

[shiroKJ]

The medalists How cute

 

[Meoima]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/stolbova-klimov-lead-pairs-euros-191242510--spt.html
Apparently, Javi was very sleepy and tired during the FS. -He did look tired. And then they made him sit in the 'other' waiting room with the cameras on him. That must have been tough 'cause he couldn't get a quick nap during the other guys' performances.

I know why I like Javi that much. He would be me lol. I feel sleepy all the time, especially when it's such important event like this.

 

[Blades of Passion]

The U.S. guys should have no problem whatsoever keeping 3 spots if this is the way people are going to perform at Worlds. Yeesh. Not a single performance in either segment here that I will ever revisit.

 

[sabinfire]

The U.S. guys should have no problem whatsoever keeping 3 spots if this is the way people are going to perform at Worlds. Yeesh. Not a single performance in either segment here that I will ever revisit.

I actually decided to go into work instead of staying home to watch this live, as I had the previous two days of competition...

 

[matmuh]

more pics from medal ceremony, seems like they had so much fun, its great to see they are having so much fun while their fans keep arguing about who should have won, this or that person overscored etc

 

[Meoima]

I actually decided to go into work instead of staying home to watch this live, as I had the previous two days of competition...

Oh please don't leave us when it's the ladies event.

 

[Jaana]

Congratulations to Fernandez for this third win at the Europeans!!! I´m glad that he was not at his best here, as I wish to see him skating the season´s best performances at the Worlds.... He seemed very nervous as he watched the other guys´ performances, even before that of Brezina. I was 100 % sure that Brezina will skate like Brezina here, too.... I really hope that one day he will realize his potential though, LOL.

Is Russia having only one spot for the Worlds? In that case more congratulations to Kovtun for his silver medal! It was very nice to watch as Kovtun without hesitation gave Fernandez such a big hug at the medal ceremony. That is good sportmanship, I would say...

I like Amodio´s costume and the music, they fit together and the choreography is good. He just needs to skate it faultlessly, could it be possible?

Bychenko was great!!! I also liked the skating of Samohin very much. Israel very narrowly lost the third sport for 2016 Europeans.

 

[Tanka]

After watching it up to the end I can state that I loved the 3rd warm-up much more than the last one. Fernandez at least seemed to enjoy being on ice despite all his bloopers.

 

[Lota]

more pics from medal ceremony, seems like they had so much fun, its great to see they are having so much fun while their fans keep arguing about who should have won, this or that person overscored etc

Looks like they had some fun!

Congrats to all the medalists (and to Kovtun especially for his first senior medal outside of GP)! The competition was somewhat underwhelming, but at least it kept me guessing as to who would medal till the very last skate. And those who did medal, I commend them for trying. Javi's LP unfortunately does nothing for me, which is a real shame, because I freaking love his Black Betty SP. When I first heard of this music selection I thought it was a match made in heaven, but apparently not. Kovtun, though he still needs improvement, I thought has already improved a lot in his presentation and other things. Unlike most, despite the jumps, I really enjoyed watching his program Voronov... I don't know what happened here. Bychenko was the real unsung hero of the night.

I'm thinking also that maybe there was some external reason why everyone was so, well, meh? Because I've never seen so many men that exhausted after their skates. Honestly, I was thinking most of them would fall from exhaustion during their final spins... Just seemed kinda odd, I don't know hwell:

 

[Li'Kitsu]

People were going so far as to say Kovtun should have been behind Bychenko (LMAO)... It's painfully obvious how manic and desperate people are to have Kovtun finish off the podium... what, so they can sneer that "even Bychenko beat him". Pathetic.

Huh? See, I get all of the "rooting for someone who only gets hate" kinda thing, but you need to stop at some point. You already said "people are only rooting for Voronov because they want Kovtun to lose" - and I'm glad so many people called you wrong on that already. And now you say people were applauding Bychenko only as another reason to tear down Kovtun? Dude, if anyone's not giving some skaters and those enjoying them their fair credit right now, it's you. Except for Righini, Bychenko had the only great LP for me here. He even had a 4T with really good quality! I'm not invested enough in this competition to think through who I would have scored as silver and bronze medalists, but I can tell you seeing Bychenko getting a medal for his effort would have made me very happy. Happier than seeing Kovtun or Voronov (who I actually like) on the podium, simply because he impressed me more today for different reasons.
Bychenko is getting so many "I think he would have deserved a medal" comments because people enjoyed him. Nothing to do with Kovtun.

PS: I'm actually neutral to Kovtun these days (and sometimes disliking his PCS). He obviously tries to improve, and it even pays of IMO, but I just don't see anything with him I like. Doesn't mean I'm rooting against him... I just really don't care.

 

[Meoima]

CSG, I reckon you didn't watch them. If anything, Bychenko getting a medal means Voronov would not get a medal. People around here like Voronov more than you, but Bychenko did really well. If you think people want Bychenko to have a medal just because they don't like Kovtun then cut the crap already.

 

[Sandpiper]

Enh. Hanyu has had meltdowns (particularly in SPs) so I don't think he is the best role model for discopline and mindset. Plu is probably a better example of a strong mindset, or Kim.

I don't get why people are so despondent over a win. Sure this lamenting is appropriate post-Sochi FS but there's nothing for him to be ashamed of. He tries 3 quads in his LP so mistakes are inevitable.

How many clean freeskates has Hanyu done, and with 2 quads at that? Everyone is prone to error. Also Hanyu's mindset didn't save him from bombing in Sochi but he was saved by everyone bombing. Same with Worlds where Machida totally deserved the win but Hanyu was held up on PCS in the SP which eventually made a difference.

People just need to accept that, like Hanyu/Kovtun/anyone going for crazy content, Fernandez is bound to make errors with his difficulty (and im also talking inbetween elements) and as with Chan/Hanyu it might be a while until we see him skate to his full potential. He's certainly improved compared to prior Olympic cycles. But I guess you can't please everybody.

I agree with you in the sense that Hanyu is hardly the one to rely on if you want clean performances (I'd say nobody in the men's field has that mental toughness these days... except Nam ).

However, Hanyu does seem to go out there to win. He is more of a warrior than Javi, imo, and that is what people sense and admire. At key moments, he's mainly limited his mistakes to 1-2, not a whole slew of them. Javi, however, regularly is sloppy on about half his jumping passes, which would easily be beaten by even Sochi-Hanyu.

 

[TMC]

I just used 3A as example. Quad is definitely taking energy out. But you can bomb program with quads and program with just triples, it depends on how you feel in THIS moment.

I don't think anybody's disputing that here

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

CSG, I reckon you didn't watch them. If anything, Bychenko getting a medal means Voronov would not get a medal. People around here like Voronov more than you, but Bychenko did really well. If you think people want Bychenko to have a medal just because they don't like Kovtun then cut the crap already.

Bychenko deserved a higher score overall (he was hosed on PCS a bit in both segments), but his overall quality of skating doesn't match Kovtun or Voronov. Had he attempted a second quad or second 3A (note Kovtun/Voronov at least attempted two of each, Voronov tripling his 2nd quad) perhaps he would have been more deserving of a medal. Unfortunately he's a bit of a Ge/Nguyen figure in that with lower tech content/lower popularity even a clean skate doesn't get him the marks he deserves.

And come on, there were those who wanted Kovtun's FS to not be enough to surpass Voronov, leaving him 3rd, and who also wanted Bychenko scored much higher so as to push Kovtun off the podium. Haters have been wanting to see Kovtun lose for ages now... The same ones who keep bringing up his 17th place finish at Worlds as essentially a junior.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Starting to believe that Kovtun just isn't physically capable of skating clean.

Take a look at his 2014 TEB FS.

Also, would you say the same about Fernandez?

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I am absolutely APPALLED that Bychenko was not marked well enough to get a medal. The judges didn't go with it because he was in the penultimate group. Same old story.

His PCS would have needed to be 13 points higher (around 80 pts) to medal. He also didnt do himself any favors by having no second quad or 3A, doubling the salchow, and having a shaky level 2 spin to finish.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Kovtun shouldn't medal, sorry.

nothing nice or good to say from my Side
Hopefully he will not Medal

Hope Brezina can pass Kovtun, sorry.